wine education Archives - Wine Blog

2013 Vintners Hall of Fame Inductees Announced

Sep 202012

Press Release:

St. Helena, CA – The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) today announced that its 2013 Vintners Hall of Fame inductees will be winemaking pioneer Meredith “Merry” Edwards, legendary wine writer Frank Schoonmaker, labor leader Cesar Chavez, and the founder of The Wine Advocate, Robert Parker.

The official induction of the 2013 Vintners Hall of Fame honorees will take place on February 18, 2013 at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, in St. Helena, California, as part of the college’s 7^th Annual Vintners Hall of Fame Induction Celebration. Continue reading »

Of College Kids and Wine

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Jun 012012

Teaching wine classes is always fun. It is a rare person in attendance that doesn’t already have a sense of the wonder of wine. Occasionally someone will bring a spouse, friend or significant other in hopes of lighting their wine fire and in those cases my job is to fan the flames. All in all teaching wine classes is a blast because most everyone has an interest in the topic….and they’re drinking wine.

Texas Tech RHIMS Students learning about wine

This week however, I had a different audience that added a new challenge to the excitement of wine education. I spent two days with a group of junior and senior Restaurant and Hotel Management majors from Texas Tech University. These millennials were more the connoisseur of “dollar PBR” nights than wine and food pairings. To make matters more interesting, my daughter was part of the class. Not only was I there to enlighten the unenlightened but I needed to do it in a way that made my daughter proud or at least not embarrass her.

The ten students were part of a May-mester program. Instead of a traditional semester class on campus in Lubbock, Texas, the group was based at a satellite campus in the tiny Hill Country town of Junction, Texas where they completed two intensive weeks of all-day class and field trips. From Junction they made excursions to San Antonio, Austin and popular tourist destinations around the Hill Country. The campus is rustic to say the least, offering a summer camp appearance complete with bunkhouses and swimming pool, rather than a collegiate environment. Continue reading »

The Unlikely Conversion of a Wine Evangelist (Pt. 3)

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Mar 082012

Read :The Unlikely Conversion of a Wine Evangelist (Pt. 1)

Read :The Unlikely Conversion of a Wine Evangelist (Pt. 2)

Late in the fall of 1983, John, an eccentric wine-business friend, insisted we join him and his wife, Jennifer, on a trip to Napa and Sonoma. The excursion included events that would ultimately change both our wine-stained lives forever. We flew into San Francisco and rented a white Lincoln Towne Car, the size of a small yacht. We cruised across the bay and into wine country. I was mesmerized. In November, with harvest completed many of the vineyards still had leaves of rustic red, yellow and harvest gold. The trip had many memorable moments, including the haunted San Francisco B&B’s where John insisted we stay. Lest we forget the corner sushi bar whose concept of hospitality was to curse in Japanese as you entered.

Donna spent the whole trip politely passing on any red wine tastings, limiting herself to whites. She had yet to develop a taste for rich red wines with their structured tannins. As if acting in unison, the red wines would begin to pour and her right hand would cover the wine glass. That was until the moment in the living area of our Healdsburg B&B when Donna lost her cabernet virginity. Around four in the afternoon we sat with a few other guests to share the day’s wine tasting bounty. John opened a bottle of Jordan Cabernet and insisted Donna give it a full-on chance. With much trepidation, she lifted the glass to her lips and took a sip, letting the wine settle on her palate. At that instant she knew what she had been missing all along.

The Unlikely Conversion of a Wine Evangelist (Pt. 2)

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Feb 132012

Read : The Unlikely Conversion of a Wine Evangelist (Pt. 1)

The rest of the 70’s and into the early 80’s were spent ensconced at the University Of Texas School of Business finishing my undergraduate business degree, MBA degree and teaching undergraduate business classes. Wine, however, remained a growing fascination. Those years were lean. Odd jobs generated what little spending money I had. Once, my prospects were so bleak, I even took a job catching live snakes at night for a campus area pet store and the occasional rattler for a university science project. Wrestling rattlers on the end of a snake stick is a bit off the wall and frightening. But I needed some, as we say, walkin’ around money, and hell, this is Texas. Finally, I ended up with a desk job at an insurance agency. At least that was safe from venomous reptiles. During this time I also received a small university paycheck as I continued my position as an instructor at the UT Business School. Certainly, not the income needed for a fine wine collection or even much consumption, but we did our best. Continue reading »

The Unlikely Conversion of a Wine Evangelist (Pt. 1)

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Dec 192011

I call myself a “Wine Evangelist.” Most who spend time around me would agree with that moniker, as I merrily move through life aiming to convert as many as possible to the gospel of the grape. I admit I am a zealot, one who loves to speak of nothing other than wine.

My role as self-appointed Wine Evangelist is simple. I live to teach about wine as art and as an expression of passion. Within each bottle I revel in the nuance and flair created by both vineyard and winemaker. Before we get too deep here, not all good wine is expensive and not all expensive wines are good. Yes, there are wines that should be admired as art and others that are made to enhance your backyard BBQ party. The key word here is, enhance. Nothing in my opinion elevates food, friends and family like wine. Wine just makes life better.

Recently, I attended a reception luncheon hosted by an Argentinean winery and winemaker at a popular downtown Denver restaurant. The eight people sitting around our table were equally divided between 30-somethings and 50-somethings. The question came up: why wine? The younger wine enthusiasts all had a similar story to tell which included the fact that they had been exposed to good if not great wine during their formative years and wine had always been a part of their life experience.

The other four also had similar experiences but they were different from the 30-somethings. Only one of the mature guests was raised around wine and he, of Italian decent, had been raised on cheap Italian jug wine. Since my experience was not uncommon for my generation, I’ll share with you the unlikely conversion of a wine evangelist. Continue reading »

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